MONTPELIER — The state Treasurer’s office is currently in the middle of fall outreach efforts to alert Vermonters to search for unclaimed property.

There’s now more than $64 million in Vermont’s unclaimed property fund.

During the last fiscal year, the average claim paid $385 in cash to 13,435 individuals who discovered they had unclaimed financial property.

“Vermonters are finding that taking the time to check each year can really pay off,” said State Treasurer Beth Pearce. “At this year’s Champlain Valley Fair we had 950 claim form requests made on $173,121 in unclaimed property. The largest amount of a single claim request was $28,793.”

Through November 13, the office will distribute its annual publication of new unclaimed property listings through newspapers across the state. Additional advertising will direct people to search for their name at MissingMoney.Vermont.gov.

Financial property becomes “unclaimed” after a business or nonprofit entity loses contact with a customer for a period of years. The property is sent to the State Treasurer’s Office to locate the property owner. Unclaimed property includes cash, checks, security deposits, refunds, stocks, bonds, insurance policies, bank accounts, and estates.

There is no time limit for filing a claim and no charge to claim funds through the Treasurer’s office.

Vermonters are advised to be wary of services that offer to locate property for a fee. Vermont law forbids such businesses, known as asset locators, from charging more than 10 percent of the value of the unclaimed property for their services.

Anyone with questions should contact the Unclaimed Property Division by calling 828-2407 or (800) 642-3191.